Headhunter
The European Dreamcast game has made it to the states. Acclaim has amped up this exciting title making better than ever before, only this time for the PS2.
Published: March 30, 2002
Remember the short days of Sega's Dreamcast? Well, since its departure from the gaming world, its games have spawned several highly successful remakes and sequels. For example, Sonic Adventure 2: Battle and the 2K series of sports titles, to name a few. Headhunter is falls under the remake category, and I bet most you didn't even know it existed, shame on you. Unfortunately, due to some complicated reasons, Headhunter was never released to the U.S., and to make matters worse it was released on the Dreamcast, which most of you probably never owned. Our friends over at Acclaim have got us covered however, as not to long ago they purchased the rights for Headhunter from Sega with high hopes of a positive reaction form the U.S. audience.
A unique aspect about Headhunter is that you take the role as two characters throughout the game. The first and main character is Jack Wade. Jack comes to find himself waking up in a sterile hospital bed, with no recollection of who he is, or what events precursed his coma. He has to escape the hospital without getting killed, which is no easy task. Jake Wade learns that he once worked for the Anti-Crime Network or ACN. The ACN is the nation's leading law enforcement agency. They are more powerful than the ATF and FBI put together. Although the ACN does play a vital role in everyday criminal occurrences, their target is organized crime, with a little twist. If criminals commit a crime, they had to pay the government a hefty price, if not, their organs and body tissue would be sold to the highest bidder, interested?
Jack position being a headhunter; someone whose job it was to track and capture-wanted criminals who either had no money or just felt a little attached to their organs and weren't willing to give them up. Thus, after his coma he gets fired and his license as a headhunter is revoked, tough break. Now, under a strange conspiracy you find out that the ACN chief, Christopher Stern, has been murdered. Jack has to team up with a hot temptress named Angela Stern, the daughter of Christopher Stern, to regain your memory and bring Stern's killers to justice. In case you haven't already guessed, you also play the role as Angela Stern, fighting for the truth about her father's death and how it happened. While you play the game, players alternate in character specific missions.
A feature, now fluent in several new third person shooters such as this, and first-person shooters is the ability to drive vehicles. Headhunter is no exception, although it does not carry such a demanding role as in Halo or C&C Renegade, but don't count it out by any means. The use of the motorcycle in Headhunter is basically to travel. Don't get me wrong, the work Amuze did in the detail of the shimmering bike traveling at speeds in excess of 200mph is an remarkable accomplishment, but its really only in there for eye candy, though whose complaining? But remember, wait... you can't remember, well, either way players have to gain back their skill they once had, including how to ride that killer bike, aiming and firing your weapon. Obviously, when coming out from a coma you'll start at the lowest level 'C' and eventually with a little hard work you'll achieve 'AAA.' For instance, when riding the motorcycle for the first time, the controls for driving are uneasy and many a time you'll drive straight into walls or borders, and as you can imagine, it makes it difficult to get to your place of destination. The streets Jack rides on are completely free; he can find himself at several different locations, but in order to activate the next sequence he has to arrive at the given area. The ways to achieve higher rankings is to progress through the levels, improving upon each action.
Headhunter is not a shoot em' up type game, it takes advantage of stealth which is refreshing compared to many shooters, after all this is an investigation not a killing spree, no matter how much you want it to be. By the way, doing so will usually result in a casualty, so it's best to keep most of your activities on the down low. Don't assume that you'll go in empty handed either, Mr. Wade packs some heavy battle gear, consisting of pistols, proximity mines, machine guns, and even rocket launchers.
Issues I have with this title are that it is not very smooth. The animation in both the cut scenes and real-time movement are awful choppy especially between one reflex to the next. The graphics aren't much to rant about; they have the basic GTA3 quality. The voice acting could also be improved upon. A disappointment in any game that is only a single player is that it has no multi-player. On the contrary to the animation, the games soundtrack is anything but looked down on, Acclaim is very proud of their music in Headhunter. The have hired Richard Jacques to compose the score along with the London Session Orchestra. Although you may not of heard of Richard Jacques, you probably heard of the films and some of the games he has been associated with, his arsenal includes the soundtrack to the bond film: The World Is Not Enough and The Mummy. He also has been featured in several games such as Sonic R and Metropolis Street Racer.
Headhunter seems to be a notable port from the Dreamcast to the PlayStation 2. Overall Acclaim is on the right track, with cutting edge stealth action, intense in-game playability, as well as a professional cinematic soundtrack. Headhunter also gives the ability to have both a first and third person perspective on all of the action, a feature previously only available on the PC. This is sure to big a hit in the States. Headhunter is expected to arrive in stores on April 15 with a suggested retail price of $49.99.
A unique aspect about Headhunter is that you take the role as two characters throughout the game. The first and main character is Jack Wade. Jack comes to find himself waking up in a sterile hospital bed, with no recollection of who he is, or what events precursed his coma. He has to escape the hospital without getting killed, which is no easy task. Jake Wade learns that he once worked for the Anti-Crime Network or ACN. The ACN is the nation's leading law enforcement agency. They are more powerful than the ATF and FBI put together. Although the ACN does play a vital role in everyday criminal occurrences, their target is organized crime, with a little twist. If criminals commit a crime, they had to pay the government a hefty price, if not, their organs and body tissue would be sold to the highest bidder, interested?
Jack position being a headhunter; someone whose job it was to track and capture-wanted criminals who either had no money or just felt a little attached to their organs and weren't willing to give them up. Thus, after his coma he gets fired and his license as a headhunter is revoked, tough break. Now, under a strange conspiracy you find out that the ACN chief, Christopher Stern, has been murdered. Jack has to team up with a hot temptress named Angela Stern, the daughter of Christopher Stern, to regain your memory and bring Stern's killers to justice. In case you haven't already guessed, you also play the role as Angela Stern, fighting for the truth about her father's death and how it happened. While you play the game, players alternate in character specific missions.
A feature, now fluent in several new third person shooters such as this, and first-person shooters is the ability to drive vehicles. Headhunter is no exception, although it does not carry such a demanding role as in Halo or C&C Renegade, but don't count it out by any means. The use of the motorcycle in Headhunter is basically to travel. Don't get me wrong, the work Amuze did in the detail of the shimmering bike traveling at speeds in excess of 200mph is an remarkable accomplishment, but its really only in there for eye candy, though whose complaining? But remember, wait... you can't remember, well, either way players have to gain back their skill they once had, including how to ride that killer bike, aiming and firing your weapon. Obviously, when coming out from a coma you'll start at the lowest level 'C' and eventually with a little hard work you'll achieve 'AAA.' For instance, when riding the motorcycle for the first time, the controls for driving are uneasy and many a time you'll drive straight into walls or borders, and as you can imagine, it makes it difficult to get to your place of destination. The streets Jack rides on are completely free; he can find himself at several different locations, but in order to activate the next sequence he has to arrive at the given area. The ways to achieve higher rankings is to progress through the levels, improving upon each action.
Headhunter is not a shoot em' up type game, it takes advantage of stealth which is refreshing compared to many shooters, after all this is an investigation not a killing spree, no matter how much you want it to be. By the way, doing so will usually result in a casualty, so it's best to keep most of your activities on the down low. Don't assume that you'll go in empty handed either, Mr. Wade packs some heavy battle gear, consisting of pistols, proximity mines, machine guns, and even rocket launchers.
Issues I have with this title are that it is not very smooth. The animation in both the cut scenes and real-time movement are awful choppy especially between one reflex to the next. The graphics aren't much to rant about; they have the basic GTA3 quality. The voice acting could also be improved upon. A disappointment in any game that is only a single player is that it has no multi-player. On the contrary to the animation, the games soundtrack is anything but looked down on, Acclaim is very proud of their music in Headhunter. The have hired Richard Jacques to compose the score along with the London Session Orchestra. Although you may not of heard of Richard Jacques, you probably heard of the films and some of the games he has been associated with, his arsenal includes the soundtrack to the bond film: The World Is Not Enough and The Mummy. He also has been featured in several games such as Sonic R and Metropolis Street Racer.
Headhunter seems to be a notable port from the Dreamcast to the PlayStation 2. Overall Acclaim is on the right track, with cutting edge stealth action, intense in-game playability, as well as a professional cinematic soundtrack. Headhunter also gives the ability to have both a first and third person perspective on all of the action, a feature previously only available on the PC. This is sure to big a hit in the States. Headhunter is expected to arrive in stores on April 15 with a suggested retail price of $49.99.
